Hate the borders, really wish they would use the ENTIRE screen for the game, hopefully you can adjust the screen options to use the entire screen. Otherwise it looks great. I love seeing the original cabinets.

Just as a heads up for anyone that was intrigued by this but didn't want to spend $30 on something that in many ways was a rehash of past compilations, this can be easily had for $10 these days. Picked up a PS3 copy out of the Wal-Mart bargain bin a few days ago for instance for $9.99.

I'm posting this largely as a curiosity since the barriers to entry are much too high for the average arcade compilation fan, but 23 Midway arcade classics have made their way to the multiplatform title, Lego Dimensions. You access them by scanning these figures.

Besides being neat and a bit puzzling at the same time (Isn't Lego Dimensions primarily a kids title?), this is interesting since it's not just a rehash of Origins. Several notable classics that didn't make the jump to Origins, such as Roadblasters and Timber, are included here. And this marks the first console release ever of Blasteroids, which essentially was Asteroids 3.

Hopefully it's a sign that a new Midway compilation is underway that expands upon Origins, adds most of the missing Treasures lineup, and includes several newly emulated titles like Blasteroids (I'd love to see Solar Fox, Gorf, Domino Man, and Hydra join the lineup).

I've been meaning to post my impressions of this gem. Last week Best Buy had Dimensions down to $48 using the Gamer's Pass. With that I picked up Dimensions, Midway, Scooby Doo and the Simpsons. I didn't really know what to expect.

Focusing on the Midway game it starts off similar to the recent Tron movie where you go to some old, crappy part of town and find a whole bunch of classic arcade games in an old, abandoned arcade. It's pretty sweet! If you like Legos the Defender arcade game you build is pretty cool. I only tried out Spy Hunter. As far as I could tell it played like the real thing. And I still stunk at it so that felt about right.

It's kind of cool having the ability to carry around an "Arcade" and slot it into place to play a new game within a game.

If you find Dimensions on sale again I'd recommend it if only for the Meta aspect of Batman interacting with the Wicked Witch and Homer...I'm only two stages into the actual game.

Likely the last time this thread will ever call for a bump, but I'm happy to report that Midway Arcade Origins has joined the Xbox One backwards compatibility list. And with how nice 360 games now play on the XB1 these days, it should run perfectly.

ActRaiser wrote:I've been meaning to post my impressions of this gem. Last week Best Buy had Dimensions down to $48 using the Gamer's Pass. With that I picked up Dimensions, Midway, Scooby Doo and the Simpsons. I didn't really know what to expect.

Down to $30 now at Wal-Mart, thanks to the recently announced discontinuance.

I remembered that you had bought this, and was hoping you could answer a couple of questions about the viability of this as a classic gaming compilation. Is there an always online mandate involved, which means it's all useless once Warner Brothers pulls the plug on server support? Or am I good, offline or on, once I've downloaded everything locally to my console?

And how much of an annoyance would it be to unlock the arcade games and then access them each time I want to play? For instance, I wouldn't mind a 30-60 second walk with my character avatar to reach an in-game arcade to play my unlocked games each time I fire it up, but something much more involved probably would annoy me too much.

And must the scanner and correct Lego Dimension pieces stay attached to the console, or can I scan once and be done with that part of it (I suppose I know the answer, since they want people to buy the level packs and such rather than share them)? How about arcade stick support (I assume outside of the arcade environment, that a dual analog stick gamepad is necessary; But can I swap over to my arcade stick once I reach the arcade game that I want to play?)?

Still pricey, but if you think someone just interested in the arcade games could enjoy themselves, I think I'll go for it.

ActRaiser wrote:I've been meaning to post my impressions of this gem. Last week Best Buy had Dimensions down to $48 using the Gamer's Pass. With that I picked up Dimensions, Midway, Scooby Doo and the Simpsons. I didn't really know what to expect.

Down to $30 now at Wal-Mart, thanks to the recently announced discontinuance.

I remembered that you had bought this, and was hoping you could answer a couple of questions about the viability of this as a classic gaming compilation. Is there an always online mandate involved, which means it's all useless once Warner Brothers pulls the plug on server support? Or am I good, offline or on, once I've downloaded everything locally to my console?

And how much of an annoyance would it be to unlock the arcade games and then access them each time I want to play? For instance, I wouldn't mind a 30-60 second walk with my character avatar to reach an in-game arcade to play my unlocked games each time I fire it up, but something much more involved probably would annoy me too much.

And must the scanner and correct Lego Dimension pieces stay attached to the console, or can I scan once and be done with that part of it (I suppose I know the answer, since they want people to buy the level packs and such rather than share them)? How about arcade stick support (I assume outside of the arcade environment, that a dual analog stick gamepad is necessary; But can I swap over to my arcade stick once I reach the arcade game that I want to play?)?

Still pricey, but if you think someone just interested in the arcade games could enjoy themselves, I think I'll go for it.

Holy cow, I don't think I've pulled it out more than a few times since this post and that was well over a year ago. My daugther finally slept through the night...so I stopped playing video games at 3:00 am and started enjoying sleeping again.

I love Legos, so to me it's most definitely worth the $30 for the Legos alone. I don't believe it has an always online component to it, but you'll have to be online to download the updates for it for each new level that's released or purchased. I don't think the game is what you're looking for for an easy walk up and play as I believe you have to unlock each game in the larger meta level of an 80s level and that takes time. The Lego Dimensions must be attached to access that level and the core game. Unfortunately, I have no idea on the arcade stick support side of things.

If you can get the base system for $30 I'd say go for it. I probably paid twice that and still got my money out of it. Although I was playing it with no sleep so buyer beware on that front.

Looks like the last gen versions and the Wii U SKU will be $19.99 at GameStop on Black Friday. The PS4/XB1 versions are $10 more.

Doubt this ever gets any cheaper new. Hopefully the Midway and Portal level packs can be had cheaply to get all the games that I want (The Midway pack has most of the games, while the Portal pack is what unlocks Klax).

There are two additional level packs that each have a Midway classic tied to them, but they're just 720° and Cyberball 2072. Both of these were included in Midway Arcade Origins on the PS3/360/XB1, so there's little reason for the classic arcade fan to seek those last two level packs out unless they want to actually play Lego Dimensions.